Letters, May 14: IRS targets conservative groups

Gregory Hicks, former deputy chief of mission in Libya to slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, answers questions at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about last year's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 8, 2013. (J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press) J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE, ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Gregg James: Was it politically motivated that organizations with terms like "Tea Party" or "patriot" in their names were targeted by the Internal Revenue Service? It's unlikely anyone can come up with a similar list of liberal groups with terms like "progressive" or "community" that endured the same level of scrutiny.

To say this was not politically motivated is disingenuous. The questions that now remain are who authorized it, and who will be held accountable?

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LAKE FOREST, Brent Duggleby: With the recent disclosure by the IRS that it targeted conservative not-for-profit organizations, those groups should now enjoy a measure of relief from those who have long questioned their sanity. You're only paranoid if they really aren't out to get you.

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TUSTIN, Mike Carter: The IRS apologized for the targeting of conservative groups but said that it wasn't "politically motivated." The apology rings false. The incident seems to be another example of a branch of our government using intimidation to infringe upon the First Amendment rights of our citizens.

This country is suffering from the excess power-mongering by its own government. How do we get elected officials, who appoint the directors of different government organizations, to realize they work for us? We pay their salaries. Not the other way around.

All the president's men

FULLERTON, DQ Rosenow: For those of you scoring at home, and more for those of you still snoring at home, all of those lines you treasure from Watergate are about to be reprised. To make it simple for you, just focus upon one: What did the president know, and when did he know it?

Benghazi culpability

Gregory Hicks, former deputy chief of mission in Libya to slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, answers questions at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about last year's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 8, 2013. (J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press)

SANTA ANA, Sidney Hatchl: Understandably, U.S. diplomat Gregory Hicks' testimony was characterized by a great amount of emotion. The actual events that occurred during the attack as he reported included a call he made to Germany and another relating to help available from Italy, all of which indicated that nothing was available from these quarters in time to help.

The significant item in his testimony related to "sending a team from Tripoli to Benghazi to secure the airport for the withdrawal of personnel."

He did not explain how securing the airport would have affected a rescue of the people in harm's way. The team was ordered to stand down. It would be interesting to know where that order to stand down originated.

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LAKE FOREST, Jerry Miller: Letter-writers Bonnie Vandenberg and Tom Chapman gave spirited defenses of the Obama administration's handling of the Benghazi incident ["Incompetence or a cover up in Benghazi?" May 13]. Both letters are misleading.

Vandenberg asserts that the Republicans may be at least in part responsible because they cut funding for embassy security. Actually, a high-ranking State Department official has already testified that financial resources were not an issue. Chapman states that all questions have already been answered and some people have been fired. Some people at the State Department were given options to be reassigned to another desk or resign. This is different than being fired.

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